A FURNITURE shop torched by arsonists will not open for another two weeks.

Alan Ward Home Furnishing, based on Nat Lane, Winsford, was well ablaze when fire crews were called out in the early hours of Saturday, May 8.

Now its new manager is counting the cost of the £500,000 blaze.

The damage to the store could have been even greater if flames had reached gas pipes, but a potential explosion was averted.

Firefighters were at the scene for more than three hours as they put out the fire and cooled the site.

New manager Debbie Cartwright, who took over as store manager on Monday, now faces her first two weeks in charge without having a shop to run because of smoke and water damage.

Staff face a mammoth clean-up exercise as they painstakingly remove and replace ruined furniture. Debbie said: 'We are not going to be open this week and it looks unlikely next week, too. As we begin to move furniture we are finding more water.'

Firefighters doused the building to keep it cool and prevent electrical sparks from reaching the gas line.

Debbie revealed most of the stock cannot be sold because of water damage.

She added: 'The showroom looks OK from the front but the back is a mess. Three-quarters of the stock is damaged or smells of smoke.'

She said neighbouring store Carpets Unlimited was also the target of arsonists who set fire to carpet cut-offs left in outside skips. Staff at Alan Ward refuse to put rubbish into outside skips for fear of encouraging the attacks.

'We never put any rubbish outside,' said Debbie. 'We have vans come and pick up our rubbish and we just don't use skips.

Anyone with information on the fire should call Ross Middleton at Winsford police on 01244 613536.